People v. Taylor CA4/1

CourtCalifornia Court of Appeal
DecidedMarch 16, 2015
DocketD066125
StatusUnpublished

This text of People v. Taylor CA4/1 (People v. Taylor CA4/1) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering California Court of Appeal primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
People v. Taylor CA4/1, (Cal. Ct. App. 2015).

Opinion

Filed 3/16/15 P. v. Taylor CA4/1 NOT TO BE PUBLISHED IN OFFICIAL REPORTS California Rules of Court, rule 8.1115(a), prohibits courts and parties from citing or relying on opinions not certified for publication or ordered published, except as specified by rule 8.1115(b). This opinion has not been certified for publication or ordered published for purposes of rule 8.1115.

COURT OF APPEAL, FOURTH APPELLATE DISTRICT

DIVISION ONE

STATE OF CALIFORNIA

THE PEOPLE, D066125

Plaintiff and Respondent,

v. (Super. Ct. No. JCF29124)

JAMES RANDOLPH TAYLOR,

Defendant and Appellant.

APPEAL from a judgment of the Superior Court of Imperial County, Donal B.

Donnelly, Judge. Affirmed as modified.

Anthony J. Dain, under appointment by the Court of Appeal, for Defendant and

Appellant.

Kamala D. Harris, Attorney General, Julie L. Garland, Assistant Attorney General,

Barry Carlton and Seth M. Friedman, Deputy Attorneys General, for Plaintiff and

Respondent. A jury found James Randolph Taylor guilty of one count of continuous sexual

abuse upon a child (Pen. Code, § 288.5, subd. (a))1 and made a true finding that Taylor

was previously convicted of committing a lewd act upon a child, which was alleged as a

qualifying prior offense for purposes of the Three Strikes law, the One Strike law, and the

Habitual Sex Offender law. (§§ 667, subds. (b)-(i), 667.61, subds. (a) & (d), 667.71.)

The trial court sentenced Taylor to prison for a term of 55 years to life and, as relevant

here, ordered Taylor to pay a $300 restitution fine and a $300 suspended parole

revocation restitution fine (§§ 1202.4, subd. (b), 1202.45).

Taylor contends (1) the trial court abused its discretion in overruling an objection

asserted on the ground of relevancy during the prosecutor's questioning of Taylor on

cross-examination about the charges in his prior molestation case; (2) the prosecutor

committed misconduct during closing argument when she described the burden of proof;

(3) defense counsel was ineffective because he did not object to the prosecutor's

misconduct; and (4) the trial court improperly imposed a restitution fine and a suspended

parole revocation restitution fine of $300 each, as the amount for each fine should have

been $240. We agree with the People's concession on the last point, but we find no merit

to Taylor's remaining arguments. Accordingly, we order the amount of the restitution

fine and the suspended parole revocation restitution fine to be modified to $240 each, and

as so modified, we affirm the judgment.

1 Unless otherwise indicated, all further statutory references are to the Penal Code.

2 I

FACTUAL AND PROCEDURAL BACKGROUND

In July 2012, a 13-year-old female relative of Taylor (the Child) reported to

another adult family member that Taylor had been sexually molesting her.

The police arrested Taylor, and he was charged in the alternative with either three

counts of forcible lewd acts upon a child (§ 288, subd. (b)(1)) based on three specific

instances of sexual conduct with the Child in 2011 and 2012, or one count of continuous

sexual abuse of a child under the age of 14 (§ 288.5, subd. (a))2 occurring between

May 1, 2011 and June 30, 2012. The information also alleged that Taylor had incurred a

previous conviction for committing a lewd act upon a child in 1992 (§ 288, subd. (a)),

which was alleged to constitute a prior strike under the Three Strikes law (§ 667, subds.

(b)-(i)), and to be a prior qualifying offense both for purposes of the One Strike law

(§ 667.61, subdivision (d)) and the Habitual Sex Offender law (§ 667.71).

At trial, the Child testified that for several years Taylor had been molesting her

two or three times a week in the living room of Taylor's home. According to the Child,

on each incident Taylor would take off his clothes, tell the Child to take off her clothes,

and then touch the Child's breasts, genitals and buttocks with his hands, and sometimes

his tongue, while he masturbated or had the Child masturbate him until he ejaculated.

2 Section 288.5 makes it a crime to engage in three or more acts of substantial sexual conduct, as defined in section 1203.066, or three or more acts of lewd or lascivious conduct as defined in section 288, over a period in excess of three months with a child under the age of 14 with whom the defendant resides or has recurring access. (§ 288.5, subd. (a).)

3 During some of the incidents, pornography was playing on the television. The Child

testified that Taylor told her not to disclose the molestation to anyone, and she did not do

so because she was afraid that Taylor would hurt her. The Child testified that the last

time Taylor molested her, he attempted to have intercourse with her on the kitchen table.

The Child refused to have intercourse, and Taylor let her leave the room. Shortly after

that incident, at the age of 13, the Child reported the molestation to another adult family

member.

At trial, Taylor's two sons, who were 11 and 12 years old, respectively, when the

Child disclosed the molestation, testified that they had inadvertently walked into the

living room on occasions when Taylor was molesting the Child and witnessed both

Taylor and the Child naked and engaging in sexual activity. The sons both also testified

that Taylor had warned them not to disclose the molestation, and that the Child had

confided in them about the molestation and said that she wanted it to stop.

During motions in limine, the trial court ruled that pursuant to Evidence Code

section 1108 it would allow the introduction of evidence about a lewd act that Taylor

pled guilty to committing on a seven-year-old female family member in 1992.

Accordingly, the victim of the 1992 molestation testified at trial. Specifically, she

testified that when sitting in the front passenger seat of a car driven by Taylor, she saw

that Taylor's penis was sticking out of his shorts and pointed it out to him. Taylor pulled

over the car and asked the girl if she wanted to touch his penis. The girl refused, but

Taylor grabbed her hand and placed it on his penis.

4 At trial, the mother of the victim of the 1992 molestation also testified about the

relevant events, explaining that the 1992 incident came to light because Taylor disclosed

it to her the day it occurred, although in describing the incident to her, Taylor claimed

that the girl asked to touch his penis when she saw it sticking out of his shorts. Relevant

to the 1992 molestation, during the prosecution's case the trial court also admitted into

evidence (1) a certified copy of the complaint in the 1992 case against Taylor, charging

him with two counts of committing forcible lewd acts upon a child (the 1992 Complaint);

and (2) certified court minutes showing that Taylor pled guilty to an amended complaint,

charging him with one count of committing a nonforcible lewd act.

Taylor testified in his own defense at trial. He denied molesting the Child and

claimed that the allegations may have stemmed from the fact that the Child had

inadvertently seen him masturbating in the living room on two occasions while he was

watching pornography. Taylor also testified about the 1992 molestation. As he

described the incident, the seven-year-old girl voluntarily touched his penis when he

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People v. Taylor CA4/1, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/people-v-taylor-ca41-calctapp-2015.